Donors come to mesmeric bad boy's rescue

Family pays lawyer through fundraiser; arraignment delayed until July

STOCKTON - Jeremy Meeks, a convicted felon whose recent police mug shot sparked an international internet sensation, was still attracting media attention - albeit waning - during the continuation of his arraignment Friday on a variety of weapons and gang charges in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

STOCKTON - Jeremy Meeks, a convicted felon whose recent police mug shot sparked an international internet sensation, was still attracting media attention - albeit waning - during the continuation of his arraignment Friday on a variety of weapons and gang charges in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

His new private attorney, Tai Bogan of Modesto, replacing counsel from the Public Defender's Office, asked for and received a continuance until July 8, telling Judge Franklin Stephenson that the District Attorney's Office had not yet provided him with any discovery or police reports.

Bogan took on the case less than 24 hours before the Friday morning hearing and had spoken to his client on only two occasions. Bogan is being paid from an online GoFundMe.com account set up by Meeks' mother and sister that had raised nearly $5,000 from 259 donors as of Friday afternoon.

The family hopes to raise $25,000, the amount Bogan estimates his services would cost if the case against Meeks goes to trial. His popularity soared in the past week due to the mug shot with the piercing blue eyes on the Stockton Police Department Facebook page that has garnered just shy of 100,000 likes.

In court Friday, the judge denied Bogan's request that his client appear in future hearings unshackled and in civilian clothes.

"It's a due-process violation. He has a right to have a fair trial, but the jury pool in Stockton is seeing him in jailhouse orange" due to the media attention, Bogan said. He said outside the courtroom the staggering number of images online, on television and in print showing Meeks in handcuffs wearing his jail-issued uniform would have a "prejudicial effect" on potential jurors and he would continue to make the request.

Stephenson cited courtroom security for keeping Meeks shackled.

Also outside the courtroom, Bogan said he would soon be addressing what he considers is excessively high bail to keep his client incarcerated. Meeks is being held in the San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp in lieu of $1.05 million bail.

"The bail is not reasonable," the experienced defense attorney said. "San Joaquin County has historically the highest bail in the state." Bogan said that if Meeks was facing the same charges in Los Angeles County, his bail would be $75,000.

In the complaint against Meeks, officials allege that he is a felon in possession of a firearm. He is suspected of almost a dozen other firearm and gang-related crimes.

Meeks, 30, was arrested June 18 after Stockton police officers saw him leaving a home in the Weston Ranch neighborhood where a search warrant was about to be executed, police said. He was driving a car with two passengers that included Terry Bailey, 23, who was on probation and was similarly charged.

A search of the vehicle turned up an unregistered, loaded Springfield Armory .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun and two extended magazines in the trunk, as well as what was believed to be a small amount of marijuana, according to police.

Police also learned that Meeks had been sentenced to two years in state prison stemming from a 2002 felony conviction for grand theft out of Solano County. He also has a recent resisting-arrest conviction out of Manteca that resulted in a violation of parole.

According to police, Meeks' documented gang membership with the Northside Gangster Crips forms the basis for the gang allegations against him.

Bogan said that part of the prosecution's case rests on it proving that Meeks was actively participating in a gang at the time of his arrest.

"I'm not agreeing that he is in a gang. ... I have zero records from police or the DA's office. In a normal case, I would be provided," Bogan said.

"Because of the media attention, I think the DA's office is under the microscope. They are trying to dig up anything they can to make my client out to be a bad guy," Bogan said. He said Meeks comes from a "strong family. They're good people."

He is convinced the attention Meeks' photo has attracted will eventually spark a "rags to riches" story.

"Hopefully, he will become wealthy based on his good looks," Bogan said of Meeks.

GR Media, a celebrity publicist based in Southern California, has taken on Meeks as a client. GR's list of clients includes numerous reality TV stars, well-known doctors, celebrity look-alikes and personalities in the news such as Joey Buttafuoco, Dina and Michael Lohan, and Clippers' owner Donald Sterling's one-time girlfriend, V. Stiviano.

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/goldeenblog and on Twitter @JoeGoldeen.